Eat-Man


Eat-Man is a Japanese manga series created by Akihito Yoshitomi in 1996 which was serialized by MediaWorks monthly in 19 volumes until 2003 in Dengeki Comic Gao! magazine. In 1997, Studio Deen adapted the manga into a 12-episode anime television series which was broadcast in Japan from January 9 to March 27, 1997 on TV Tokyo. A sequel, Eat-Man '98, was also animated by Studio Deen and ran from October 8 to December 23, 1998. Both anime series are licensed in North America by Discotek Media and the manga series was licensed by Viz Communications before it was dropped.
A second manga called Eat-Man The Main Dish started serialization in Monthly Shonen Sirius in May 2014.

Story

Eat-Man is a series of short, episodic stories about an "explorer" named Bolt Crank, who has the ability to eat virtually anything, and then reproduce the objects he's consumed from his body at will. Eat-Man's world is a mix of high-tech futurist cyberpunk and fairy tale. The episodes take place in various worlds and in undefined times.

Characters

Bolt Crank

Bolt Crank, is the best "explorer" in the world. In the manga, "Explorers" are a kind of mercenary. Although mercenaries in the manga do any job, even assassinations, the explorers were employees with principles.
Bolt has a bizarre power, the ability to eat anything inorganic and then later recreate it from any part of his body. The item usually comes out from his arms and hands, but sometimes can be created in other body areas, like his head, chest, or legs.
In the manga, it was implied that inside Bolt's body was actually a void of space. Objects that he's consumed float around in a seemingly endless space, much like the inside of Doraemon's fourth-dimensional pocket.
A man of few words, Bolt doesn't show his feelings and always keeps a cool head. However, his cynical personality and his "always get the job done" attitude can make him seem like a very cold and dark character but, in the end, he always finds a way to do the right thing. He never appears to look back on the past or regret it in anyway.
Although Bolt's past remained a mystery in all the series, some stories gave clues about his past, including some characters that appeared in various episodes. The end of the manga series revealed a lot about who and what Bolt is, but his exact identity still remains a mystery.
Here are some hints in the series:
The adventures in Eat-Man are usually unrelated. However, a few characters are recurring, especially in later volumes.
A 12-episode anime series was released by TV Tokyo in 1997 and was written and directed by Koichi Mashimo and animated by Studio Deen. The series featured music by Yuki Kajiura and was the first time Kajiura and Mashimo worked together and would work together for several more projects over the next several years. The series was very loosely based on the manga featuring Bolt Crank, voiced by Masashi Ebara, as the main character and keeping the fictional currency of Lido. The following year a second 12-episode series, Eat Man '98 was released, once again animated by Studio Deen and with Ebara reprising his role as Bolt Crank, but under new direction by Toshifumi Kawase.
The first series was released in North America on an English-subtitled VHS by the Bandai Entertainment label Anime Village in 1999. Bandai Entertainment released the second series Eat Man '98 on DVD in 2005 but only the first two episodes got dubbed into English.
Discotek Media released both series on DVD with Japanese audio and English subtitles, the first series was released on December 6, 2016 and Eat Man '98 on January 31, 2017.

Reception

Although the manga series was a success, the 12-episode anime series released by Studio Deen was highly criticized by fans of the manga because of the great differences between the manga and the anime. Almost all fantasy elements were removed from the anime, leaving a futuristic world. Bolt Crank's personality was very different from the manga. This Bolt showed more feelings, hated his explorer life, and desired to be a normal person. The magic crystal that appeared in the opening, the glass monoliths, the ever-floating ship known as "LAVION", and the afterlife dream in the 11th episode was never explained, creating a very bizarre and abstract atmosphere. Most of the episodes ended with unanswered questions. An Anime News Network review called the series very quirky and interesting and praised Yuki Kajiura's music.
Due to the fans' dissatisfaction, a new season was released as Eatman '98 one year after, where most of the episodes were directly based on stories from the manga.

Later appearance

The character of Bolt Crank made a guest appearance in Akihito Yoshitomi's later creation, Ray. The story is included under a special chapter, "Drop in", in Ray volume 5 from pages 167 to 190.